“He that has energy enough to root out a vice should go further, and try to plant a virtue in its place.”
Charles Caleb Colton
Beyond the Quote (107/365)
How hard is it to dig up the roots of an old tree? Even trying to dig up the roots of a small tree or a bush can be incredibly hard. This is why, after a tree gets cut down, the stump is either left behind or it’s sawed down and the roots are simply left underground. Trying to take all of the roots up from a cut down tree simply isn’t worth the time and effort it requires in most cases.
Now, how hard is it to plant a seed for a new tree? Even planting a seed for the mightiest of trees is a breeze. There might be some variance in the specifics, but for the most part, you prep the land/ soil, dig a hole to the proper depth, place the seed in the hole, put the soil back on top of it, and make sure it gets enough water and sun and voila! You’re done.
Habits have similar characteristics in their nature. Long-standing habits, whether good or bad, get deeply rooted into our way of life. While we might be able to “cold-turkey” certain habits, uprooting a habit in its entirety can be incredibly challenging—old habits die hard, right? Cutting a habit out completely is like cutting down a tree—in both cases, the roots still remain. In nature, trees don’t really grow back. But with habits, those roots can lead to relapses in behavior and can certainly lead to a growing back of the habit that was initially cut. In order to truly uproot a bad habit or a vice, it takes a substantial amount of patience and effort before the roots are completely withdrawn.
But, just because it’s hard work and it might take time doesn’t mean it isn’t a task worth pursuing. In fact, when you take responsibility for a vice and set forth on the path to correcting it with patient and persistent effort, you might find deep meaning on the other side. Uprooting the vices of your character is incredibly important and valuable work—maybe some of the most important work that you ever do. And by better understanding the roots that get left behind in that effort, you may better approach the task that’s in front of you by maintaining the proper expectations. Nothing might discourage or frustrate a worker more than setting out to do work that is expected to only take an hour, only to realize that the task might end up taking ten hours instead. But, if you set out under the impression that the task might take ten hours to complete, you’ll maintain a better mindset and be much more calm and collected in the process.
Now let’s get our hands dirty. What bad habits or vices might you want to uproot? What might be deeply rooted in your character that is going to present you with the task/ opportunity of your lifetime? Some of the vices you might consider are vanity (an excessive love of self), greed (desire to possess more than one has need or use for), lust (excessive sexual desire), envy/ jealousy (resentment of others for their possessions), laziness (idleness or wastefulness of time or other allotted resources), wrath (feelings of hatred, revenge, or denial), or gluttony (overindulgence in food, drink or intoxicants, or misplaced desire of food as a pleasure for its sensuality). Have a vice that sticks out to you? Good. Now you have something to focus on.
And while you’re putting forth the time and effort required to uproot that vice, as Colton suggests above, you may want to try and plant a virtue in its place along the way. All this has to be is a seedling for a new way of living that you might cultivate and let grow as time goes by. You might consider planting the ideas of temperance (moderation or voluntary self-restraint), charity (caring for our neighbor as we would ourself), diligence (carefulness and persistent effort or work), patience (ability to endure difficult circumstances in the face of delay), kindness (behavior marked by ethical characteristics, a pleasant disposition, and concern or consideration for others), or humility (ability to behave and act without the ego). And all it takes to grow even the mightiest of trees, is that simple step of dropping a seed into that dirt hole, covering it, and caring for it in proportion to its maturity.
In other words, start by doing just one kind thing. Practice self-restraint just one time. Try acting without your ego the next chance you get. See how it makes you feel. Then, do it just one more time after that. With proper care and given enough time, you might be surprised at how strong and mighty your tree grows to be. And the exciting thing about growing something new, is that it will start to take resources from the old, uprooted tree—resources that are needed for survival. And who knows, maybe one day, with enough patience, hard work, and mindfulness, maybe you’ll end up with a beautiful and majestic tree that’s deeply rooted into your way of life—one that would be really hard to uproot even if you tried. And maybe it completely shapes who you are as a person and guides you forward in powerful and deeply meaningful ways that you never would have imagined possible when you were simply dropping that seed into some dirt. So, go ahead. See what happens. Plant a virtue. Work towards uprooting a vice. What do you have to lose?
Don't Let the Motivation Stop There...!
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